Conclusion

This work presents the first comprehensive evaluation and head-to-head comparison of cellular and Starlink networks in the non-contiguous US, through extensive drive tests covering over 4200+ km in AK, HI, and the mainland US. Our results show a stark difference in cellular network coverage and performance between the non-contiguous and the mainland US, labeling a clear digital divide between the two regions. Starlink provides higher DL throughput and better network availability than cellular networks, but its UL TCP throughput and latency are often inferior to those of cellular networks. Additionally, unique terrains in HI and sparse satellite deployment in AK degrade Starlink performance in the non-contiguous US compared to the mainland US. Finally, our evaluation of MPTCP’s performance via trace-driven emulation reveals that multipath transport shows great potential in bridging the connectivity gap in non-contiguous US regions, improving both performance and network reliability, and motivates further study towards this direction.

本文通过在阿拉斯加、夏威夷及美国本土进行的超过 4200 公里的广泛路测，首次对美国非本土地区的蜂窝网络与 Starlink 网络进行了全面的评估与直接对比。

我们的研究结果显示，非本土地区与美国本土在蜂窝网络覆盖范围及性能方面存在显著差异，标志着两地之间存在明显的“数字鸿沟”。

虽然 Starlink 提供了比蜂窝网络更高的下行吞吐量和更好的网络可用性，但其上行 TCP 吞吐量和延迟往往不及蜂窝网络。

此外，夏威夷独特的地形和阿拉斯加稀疏的卫星部署，致使 Starlink 在非本土地区的性能相较于美国本土有所下降。

最后，我们通过基于轨迹的仿真对 MPTCP 性能进行的评估表明，多路径传输技术在弥合美国非本土地区的连接差距、提升性能及网络可靠性方面展现出巨大潜力，这也为该方向的进一步研究提供了动力。